Heat-assisted magnetic-recording (HAMR) is a recent technological development that is designed to increase the areal density (AD) of written data by recording data in a magnetic-recording medium having higher coercivity, Hc, than can be written by a magnetic field from a magnetic-recording head without assistance. By heating the surface of the magnetic-recording medium with a laser spot during write operations, coercivity of the magnetic-recording medium is reduced so that the magnetic field of the magnetic-recording head can record data in the magnetic-recording medium at high AD.